Chicago Cubs (64-85, third in the NL Central) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (55-94, fifth in the NL Central)
Pittsburgh; Thursday, 6:35 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cubs: Hayden Wesneski (1-1, 2.30 ERA, .70 WHIP, 18 strikeouts); Pirates: Mitch Keller (5-11, 4.03 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 121 strikeouts)
BOTTOM LINE: The Pittsburgh Pirates come into a matchup against the Chicago Cubs after losing six in a row.
Pittsburgh has a 55-94 record overall and a 28-43 record at home. The Pirates are ninth in the NL with 150 total home runs, averaging 1.0 per game.
Chicago has a 64-85 record overall and a 33-41 record in road games. The Cubs have gone 36-15 in games when they scored five or more runs.
Thursday's game is the 16th time these teams meet this season. The Pirates are up 8-7 in the season series.
TOP PERFORMERS: Ben Gamel has 19 doubles, two triples, eight home runs and 42 RBI for the Pirates. Rodolfo Castro is 12-for-41 with three doubles, a triple and four home runs over the past 10 games.
Ian Happ has 39 doubles, two triples and 17 home runs while hitting .271 for the Cubs. Zach McKinstry is 12-for-37 with two doubles, two triples and two home runs over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Pirates: 4-6, .206 batting average, 5.57 ERA, outscored by 13 runs
Cubs: 6-4, .220 batting average, 2.73 ERA, even run differential
INJURIES: Pirates: JT Brubaker: 15-Day IL (lat), Colin Holderman: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Yerry De Los Santos: 60-Day IL (lat), David Bednar: 15-Day IL (back), Max Kranick: 60-Day IL (elbow), Canaan Smith-Njigba: 60-Day IL (wrist), Roberto Perez: 60-Day IL (hamstring), Blake Cederlind: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Cubs: Drew Smyly: day-to-day (shoulder), Rafael Ortega: 60-Day IL (finger), Nico Hoerner: day-to-day (tricep), Nick Madrigal: 10-Day IL (groin), Willson Contreras: 10-Day IL (foot), Justin Steele: 15-Day IL (undisclosed), Alec Mills: 60-Day IL (back), Steven Brault: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Kyle Hendricks: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jason Heyward: 60-Day IL (knee), Ethan Roberts: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Codi Heuer: 60-Day IL (elbow), Brad Wieck: 60-Day IL (elbow)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
